Every time Riot updates a new version for Teamfight Tactics, some compositions become incredibly powerful and rise to the top of the meta. This causes fierce competition among players for those compositions, as everyone wants to have a dominant team comp when climbing ranks. Sometimes it leads to the situation where players get eliminated before they have even completed their full composition.
So how can you avoid being in such a situation? Let’s explore some great tips from Challenger player – BrosephTFT to find out the answer.

In the current meta, upgrading 4-cost carries to 2 stars is extremely important. Remember that in each match, there are a maximum of 12 one-star versions of 4-cost champions that appear. Therefore, choosing a different 4-cost carry than the other players will help you upgrade your composition’s power very quickly.

However, you cannot wait until your opponents start upgrading their 4-cost units to 2 stars before changing your composition because that will be too late. The advice is to carefully observe how your opponents are equipping items to determine what composition they will play and which champions they choose as carries. You should do this after the third monster round, as players tend to equip important items for their carries at that time. Some examples of itemizations that indicate compositions:
Infinity Edge: Opponents will likely aim for compositions revolving around the Brawler system with Olaf/Tryndamere as carries.
Bloodthirster: An opponent is planning to build a Talon – Innovator team.
Hextech Gunblade/Glove: An opponent is highly likely to play around Neeko, Aurelion Sol.
Rapid Firecannon: An opponent is likely to play a Kayle or Olaf carry composition.

Once you have information about how your opponents are building their compositions, what you need to do is choose a different direction from them. You may have to play a composition that is considered not very meta, but in a specific match, upgrading a 4-cost carry earlier than your opponent will help you easily place in the top 4. Even if you are not playing a theoretically dominant composition, you will at least avoid being eliminated early and losing ranking points.

Not only does it stop at choosing a composition, but determining your opponents’ team comps early will help you assemble effective counter items and increase your winning chances. For example, when many opponents are aiming for a Brawler, Bloodsucker composition, you should assemble healing reduction items like Morello’s Evil Tome and Fire Cloak early on.

The advice from the expert is to observe all players in the match after each monster round. You will know whether their composition building process is going smoothly or not? Are they planning to “pivot” and compete with you? At that point, players will have enough information to make reasonable and effective decisions in building their compositions.